Although the surface water system in the South Creek Basin has undergone physical changes over the past century, it has been altered less than all of the nearby basins draining to Blackburn Bay or Little Sarasota Bay. The Sarasota County historical and mid-century surveys and aerial photographs show South Creek extending about 2½ miles into the watershed, with a shorter branch joining the south side of the creek. Although the basin was almost entirely undeveloped by the 1970s, the creek had been extended through many wetlands. Today, about 20% of the basin is developed but is isolated in the northwest and southwest portion of the basin. For basin details see: Little Sarasota Bay Water Quality Management Plan (2012)

Water Chemistry Ratings - Freshwater Portion of the Creek

Total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chlorophyll a, and dissolved oxygen levels are monitored carefully
by water resource managers and used by regulatory authorities to determine whether a creek meets the water
quality standards mandated by the Clean Water Act. Shown below are water quality data for each freshwater stream
segment. Florida law defines a threshold for the maximum allowable concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus,
and chlorophyll a, and the minimum required concentration of dissolved oxygen in these streams. Learn more about these ratings and how they are calculated »

Data for the following WBIDs is averaged when compiling the data below:

Chlorophyll a

The rating for Total Phosphorus is determined by comparing the annual geometric mean of its sampled values to fixed target and threshold values. The geometric mean is found by multiplying together all the sample values for the calendar year and then taking the nth root of the result, where n is the number of samples. The annual geometric mean for Total Phosphorus is shown in the graph at left, as compared to its established target and threshold values.

Other Measures of Creek Health

Water Chemistry Ratings - Tidal Portion of the Creek

As is the case for predominantly freshwater streams, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll a levels are monitored
carefully by water resource managers and used by regulatory authorities to determine whether a tidally-influenced stream meets the water
quality standards mandated by the Clean Water Act. Shown below are water quality data for each saltwater water body within this basin.
Florida law defines a threshold for the maximum allowable concentration of chlorophyll a
and the minimum required concentration of
dissolved oxygen in these streams. No thresholds have been established for the allowable concentration of nitrogen or phosphorus;
trend information is provided for these nutrients, to determine whether a statistically significant trend exists and if so, whether
levels are rising (bad) or falling (good). Learn more about these ratings and how they are calculated »

Data for the following WBIDs is averaged when compiling the data below:

Five-year Trend Graph

Chlorophyll a

The rating for Chlorophyll a is determined by comparing the annual arithmetic mean of its sampled values to fixed target and threshold values. The annual arithmetic mean is shown in the graph at left, as compared to its established target and threshold values.

Five-year Trend Graph

Other Measures of Creek Health

Oysters

Because they are immobile and will tolerate a fairly wide salinity range, eastern oysters (Crassotrea virginica) are valuable as an indicator of the relative health of aquatic ecosystems in the tidally-influenced portions of coastal creeks. Sarasota County has established an oyster monitoring program to track the location, types, and status of oyster reefs. Data from this monitoring program is shown below.
Learn more about Oysters »

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Most Recent Sarasota County Oyster Monitoring Program Data

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Site ID

Year

Latitude_DD

Longitude_DD

Dead

Live

Total

% Live

1

SC1

2015

27.168359

-82.48581

79

163

242

67

2

SC2

2015

27.16495

-82.47887

131

220

351

62

Impervious Features

Rain that falls on land that is in a natural state is absorbed and filtered by soils and vegetation as it makes it way into underground aquifers. However, in developed areas, "impervious surfaces" impede this process and contribute to polluted urban runoff entering surface waters. These surfaces include human infrastructure like roads, sidewalks, driveways and parking lots that are covered by impenetrable materials such as asphalt, concrete, brick and stone, as well as buildings and other permanent structures. Soils that have been disturbed and compacted by urban development are often impervious as well.
Learn more about Impervious Features »

Land Use / Land Cover

Land use within a creek's watershed has a major effect on its water quality. In general, less development means better water quality.
Land Cover/Land Use classifications categorize land in terms of its observed physical surface characteristics (e.g. upland or wetland),
and also reflect the types of activity that are taking place on it (agriculture, urban/built-up, utilities, etc.). Florida uses as its
standard a set of statewide classifications which were developed by the Florida Department of Transportation.
Learn more about Land Use and Land Cover »

Year

LULC Category

Area (acres)

Percent

2011

Agriculture

3088.117385

3088.117385

2011

Urban & Built-up

2545.996210

2545.996210

2011

Upland Forests

2409.346986

2409.346986

2011

Wetlands

2320.333404

2320.333404

2011

Rangeland

1181.419323

1181.419323

2011

Water

626.657168

626.657168

2011

Transportation and Utilities

439.880024

439.880024

2011

Barren Land

18.337990

18.337990

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Data Sources

The data sources listed below provided water quality data used to create the report on this page. Not all data sources provided data for every creek, and not every Creek Conditions Report used data from all listed data sources. While some data sources have no data for the scored year, they provided period-of-record (historical high, mean, low) data. Click on a data source name to review its metadata.